Day: March 15, 2026

US president no longer focused on pressuring Vladimir Putin, European officials say

The Big Things: The CIA warned President Trump before he struck that “removing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S. military operations could lead to other hard-liners taking power,” Reuters reported on Friday, citing “a senior administration official.” Back on Wednesday, Reuters had reported that the regime was “not at risk of collapse” despite “two weeks of relentless U.S. and Israeli bombardment,” citing “three sources familiar with the matter.” The same day, the Wall Street Journal headlined, “Trump Knew the Risk of Iran Blocking the Strait of Hormuz. He Still Went to War,” adding, “The president told his White House team that Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait, the world’s most vital shipping lane.” The strait remains closed.

Iran Threat Here? ABC News.reported Wednesday that the FBI had warned police departments in California “in recent days that Iran could retaliate for American attacks by launching drones at the West Coast.” The unverified warning said that “as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United States homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event the U.S. conducted strikes against Iran.” ABC added, “We have no additional information on the timing, method, target, or perpetrators of this alleged attack.” Asked about it, Trump said, “It’s being investigated. But you have a lot of things happening, and all we can do is take them as they come, and the war itself is being prosecuted as well as anybody has ever seen.”

Mystery Assassin: SecDef Pete Hegseth claimed last week that the leader of the Iranian covert unit that had planned to assassinate President Trump had been “hunted down and killed.” Not so fast, officials say. The man, whom Hegseth did not name but referred to, they say, was ​​Rahman Makdam, an IRGC member “who was targeted last week in an airstrike,” according to the New York Times, but “[n]either the White House nor the Pentagon has clarified or provided additional details.” Not only that, but “American officials are divided on whether Mr. Makdam is dead.”

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Iran has warned people to evacuate three major ports in the United Arab Emirates, including the busiest in the Middle East, as its war with the U.S. and Israel enters its third week.